It’s a shame, too. It’s quite shocking, if you spend some time there, to see how un-communist the country really is. Maybe things are a bit better in the countryside, but the cities (even smaller ones) are far less for the average person than an equivalent city in, say, the Nordics. I’ve only been to Sweden once but it seemed to me far closer to what that idealized society might look like.
While I’m inclined to agree, aren’t a bunch of the Nordic countries also propped up by a ton of oil money? Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, for example, is worth over a trillion US dollars.
Kinda makes it easier to have a good quality of life when you’re filthy stinking rich.
Ofc, you can compare that to other countries with vast oil wealth, like the UAE, and there are some pretty stark differences, so tons of money certainly isn’t the only cause.
Norway is the only one where that applies, and I specifically mentioned Sweden.
Edit: with that said, Norway’s example only proves my point — they nationalized a natural resource and have been using the funds for the public good. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is 50% bigger than China’s despite Norway having 1/280th (!!!) of China’s population.
It’s a shame, too. It’s quite shocking, if you spend some time there, to see how un-communist the country really is. Maybe things are a bit better in the countryside, but the cities (even smaller ones) are far less for the average person than an equivalent city in, say, the Nordics. I’ve only been to Sweden once but it seemed to me far closer to what that idealized society might look like.
While I’m inclined to agree, aren’t a bunch of the Nordic countries also propped up by a ton of oil money? Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, for example, is worth over a trillion US dollars.
Kinda makes it easier to have a good quality of life when you’re filthy stinking rich.
Ofc, you can compare that to other countries with vast oil wealth, like the UAE, and there are some pretty stark differences, so tons of money certainly isn’t the only cause.
norway is the only oil-producing nordic country. sweden exports mainly steel, wood, and high-tech products like HV transformers and Minecraft.
That minecraft money propping up a country
Norway is the only one where that applies, and I specifically mentioned Sweden.
Edit: with that said, Norway’s example only proves my point — they nationalized a natural resource and have been using the funds for the public good. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is 50% bigger than China’s despite Norway having 1/280th (!!!) of China’s population.
Agreed!